


Relena Vs Glimmer: Pokemon Challenge Extreme

by Awseomness



Category: Gundam Wing, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Crossover, English Final, Essay, F/F, Gen, Meta, Pokemon, Trans Girl Heero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24253243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awseomness/pseuds/Awseomness
Summary: Our English final this semester was a crossover essay in which we examine the strengths and weaknesses of two fictional characters to determine who would win in a contest of our choice. I chose Relena Peacecraft and Glimmer having a pokemon battle.For the record, I got a 97 on this assignment.(Note: this essay was due the day before s5 of She-ra came out, so it does not factor in to my analysis of Glimmer's character.)
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Relena Peacecraft/Heero Yuy
Kudos: 3





	Relena Vs Glimmer: Pokemon Challenge Extreme

Relena Vs Glimmer: Ultimate Pokemon Challenge EXTREME!!

Every now and then a person is given the opportunity to answer that age-old question that burns in the hearts of all seekers of Truth: who would win in a pokemon battle between Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian-Peacraft and Queen Glimmer of Brightmoon. We are assuming a world in which both characters (as well as their respective supporting cast) exist, where pokemon games exist, and where a given character has whatever experience with pokemon games as would be reasonable for them based on their canon history and background. Glimmer and Relena are each given a Nintendo 3DS and a fresh pokemon game, Pokemon X for Glimmer and Pokemon Y for Relena. Each will have one month to play the game, getting as far as they can and constructing the best team they’re able, after which they will meet and have a single six-on-six pokemon battle. While both contestants will be allowed to ask their friends for advice, their friends cannot play for them, nor are outside trades allowed. Spoiler for the analysis: I think Relena wins this battle. Glimmer is the type to rely on a brute force strategy even against the advice of her friends, which is fine in the single player campaign, but does not hold up in PvP. Relena, on the other hand, would utilize every element of the game to better her chances, and would absolutely heed her friends’ advice.

Glimmer was isolated as a child and, until Bow, had exactly zero friends. As such, she has been playing Pokemon since she was seven years old. Relena, on the other hand, spent her childhood surrounded by upper class, high society types and had no time to play Pokemon, as she was too busy riding horses and being absolutely beautiful.While this means Glimmer has more than a decade of experience on Relena, this is actually to her detriment. You see, Glimmer hasn’t just been playing Pokemon since she was seven, she has been playing Pokemon the exact same way since she was seven. Glimmer’s strategy in all areas of her life is an all-out assault, throwing everything she has at her problem until it’s destroyed. In Pokemon, this translates to a brute force playstyle using high-damage, low-accuracy moves on high level beatdown pokemon. Relena, on the other hand, is coming to Pokemon as a young adult with fresh eyes. She would assess each pokemon on its own terms and develop movesets and strategies that utilize buffs, debuffs, held items, and set up moves, strategies which see far more success in multiplayer matches.

Relena’s fresh eyes give her another advantage: she’ll want to explore the different elements of the game, which will lead her to Pokemon Amie. Relena absolutely adores animals, and a minigame in which you pet, feed, and play with your pokemon would be so very much up her alley. Relena would spend much of her playtime doing activities that increase her pokemon’s Friendship and Affection stats. Glimmer would spend that time grinding, which has been less effective since Generation V, which introduced diminishing EXP returns on battles with lower-leveled pokemon. A pokemon like Relena’s, with maxed out Friendship and Affection, has a sizable chance to hang on with a single hit point after an attack that would normally take it down to zero. This means that even when Glimmer does hit with her high-power, low-accuracy attacks, she isn’t guaranteed to take out Relena’s pokemon with it, giving Relena more time to set up her long-term strategies.

One of the biggest factors, however, is going to be help from their friends. Now, Glimmer’s girlfriend Adora and Relena’s girlfriend Heero were both trained as child soldiers and have no experience with Pokemon. They’re useless here. But Glimmer has access to advice from Bow, who is a total nerd and a Pokemon expert, as well as Perfuma, Mermista, and Frosta, all of whom play or have played Pokemon to some degree. Relena can get advice from Duo, Quatre, Noin, Dorothy, and Hilde, and while none of them is necessarily an expert, each of them has some experience with the games. We have seen, time and again, though, that Glimmer is resistant to advice from her friends when she thinks she has things handled (a result of her sheltered upbringing and her need to prove herself), whereas Relena has a very realistic view of her abilities and would welcome advice from her more experienced friends. Bow might be the only person in this entire scenario who knows what on Earth an “effort value” is and how that factors into pokemon training, but that’s not going to do Glimmer any good when she insists she has a handle on the competition. Duo, Quatre, and Hilde, on the other hand, know the value of non-damaging moves, and have at least passing knowledge of professional-level strategies, which Relena would be more than happy to integrate.

Of course, there is one major counter-argument here that needs addressing. Relena Darlian-Peacecraft is a proponent and a living symbol of total pacifism, a philosophy of non-violence so absolute it led her to advocate for total disarmament in the middle of a global war. While Glimmer is a warrior and would have no qualms about playing a game as violent as Pokemon, Relena is a pacifist. Could she even play a game about making animals fight for you? This is actually a very silly question. Total pacifism is concerned with warfare and bloodshed, not games or sports. After all we can see in “The Glass Kingdom,” episode 31 of _Mobile Suit Gundam Wing_ , when acting as the Princess of the Sanc Kingdom, Relena has absolutely no problem with combat sports like fencing, which she not only condones but participates in. Pokemon is not only a game, but pokemon battles within the game are themselves more akin to sporting events or martial arts matches. No one dies, no one is seriously injured, no one violates a pacifist philosophy. That’s two levels of abstraction between a pokemon battle and an actual violent conflict, which means Relena would have no qualms about participating in, and winning, her battle against Glimmer.

Ultimately, Glimmer’s experience with pokemon, as well as her temperament, does more to hinder her chances of victory against Relena rather than help, while Relena’s fresh eyes and open mind give her an advantage. Relena would utilize every element of the game, from debuff moves to status effects to Pokemon Amie, which would ultimately win out over the brute force strategy Glimmer applies to every aspect of her life. Even if Glimmer’s friends warn her against this, she’s resistant to their advice when she believes she knows what she’s doing. In contrast, Relena is open to the advice of others, especially those with more experience than her. Because of this, I believe Relena would beat Glimmer in a pokemon battle and, therefore, win the right to decide where she and Glimmer take their girlfriends on their next double date.

\---

Works Cited

“The Glass Kingdom.” _Mobile Suit Gundam Wing_ , written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, directed by Nana Harada, Sunrise, 1995.


End file.
